12 Times WWE Buried Their Own Champions

WWF chiefs can't really be blamed for giving 'Hulkamania' another go in 1993. Keep that in mind as you read this, because 2 things can be true at once; the fact they wrecked Yokozuna's momentum sucked, but Vince needed to find a money-making hit and decided to lean on something that had worked for him throughout the 1980s.

The timing of Hulk Hogan's re-ascent couldn't have been worse, right enough. Yoko was a force to reckoned with heading into WrestleMania IX. Nobody could beat him, and few even managed to sweep the big powerhouse off his feet. Only a handful of top stars had achieved that, including Randy Savage during Yokozuna's '93 Royal Rumble win.

At 'Mania, Yoko steamrolled through Bret Hart to end the night as WWF Champion. Or so people thought. Hogan came out to protest, then Bret half-Hart-edly encouraged Hulk to accept a challenge from Mr. Fuji. 20 seconds or so later, and order had been restored to the pre-1993 status quo.

Squashing Yokozuna was a big risk that didn't pay off. Hogan was gone again by summer, but him putting Yoko over at King Of The Ring felt a too little too late. The federation had sacrificed their biggest fresh heel at the alter of Hulkamania, and they did so without any long-term plan beyond, 'Well...Hulk worked before!'.

Commentary claims that Yokozuna looked better than ever after KOTR fell flat, because he'd been humbled on the biggest show of '93 by a relic the McMahon family planned to move on from. The 'New Generation' was off to a rough start.